t shawl, or a strappy pair of shoes.

A week before the Christmas party or Thanksgiving dinner, start visualizing how you want the event to go for you. Feel it. See it. Smell it. Hear it. Taste it. Remember, what you think about, you bring about. Write the word "Visualize" on your to-do list. Visualizing circumstances as you want t

"Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity." --Oprah Winfrey

The holiday season is fast approaching. If you're like too many single women, you may dread the coming flurry of social events because you don't relish being a third wheel among a sea of seemingly happy couples.

That's a mistake. When you feel less-than-fantastic about yourself, you give off a vibe, and it's not attractive. Stop perceiving yourself a social liability. Recast yourself as the star you are: the exciting, confident, just-happens-to-be-available woman everyone wants to know.

How?

Start by writing a list of your good qualities. Bring to mind the compliments you've received about your sense of humor, your great taste in clothes, your ability to analyze P/L ratios, or your gift for cooking. Whatever! Jot down the ones that resonate the most with you. Tape the list to your bathroom mirror and read it every morning when you brush your teeth.

If you remind yourself frequently of the things that make you special, you will begin to believe that you are special. And once you get that, everybody else will get it, too. Then watch out!

Don't go into debt, but do buy yourself a couple of items that will make you feel spectacular, perhaps a glittery pair of earrings (every store from Saks to Target is flooded with great costume pieces), a velvet shawl, or a strappy pair of shoes.

A week before the Christmas party or Thanksgiving dinner, start visualizing how you want the event to go for you. Feel it. See it. Smell it. Hear it. Taste it. Remember, what you think about, you bring about. Write the word "Visualize" on your to-do list. Visualizing circumstances as you want th

-fantastic about yourself, you give off a vibe, and it's not attractive. Stop perceiving yourself a social liability. Recast yourself as the star you are: the exciting, confident, just-happens-to-be-available woman everyone wants to know.

How?

Start by writing a list of your good qualities. Bring to mind the compliments you've received about your sense of humor, your great taste in clothes, your ability to analyze P/L ratios, or your gift for cooking. Whatever! Jot down the ones that resonate the most with you. Tape the list to your bathroom mirror and read it every morning when you brush your teeth.

If you remind yourself frequently of the things that make you special, you will begin to believe that you are special. And once you get that, everybody else will get it, too. Then watch out!

Don't go into debt, but do buy yourself a couple of items that will make you feel spectacular, perhaps a glittery pair of earrings (every store from Saks to Target is flooded with great costume pieces), a velvet shawl, or a strappy pair of shoes.

A week before the Christmas party or Thanksgiving dinner, start visualizing how you want the event to go for you. Feel it. See it. Smell it. Hear it. Taste it. Remember, what you think about, you bring about. Write the word "Visualize" on your to-do list. Visualizing circumstances as you want t

ed about your sense of humor, your great taste in clothes, your ability to analyze P/L ratios, or your gift for cooking. Whatever! Jot down the ones that resonate the most with you. Tape the list to your bathroom mirror and read it every morning when you brush your teeth.

If you remind yourself frequently of the things that make you special, you will begin to believe that you are special. And once you get that, everybody else will get it, too. Then watch out!

Don't go into debt, but do buy yourself a couple of items that will make you feel spectacular, perhaps a glittery pair of earrings (every store from Saks to Target is flooded with great costume pieces), a velvet shawl, or a strappy pair of shoes.

A week before the Christmas party or Thanksgiving dinner, start visualizing how you want the event to go for you. Feel it. See it. Smell it. Hear it. Taste it. Remember, what you think about, you bring about. Write the word "Visualize" on your to-do list. Visualizing circumstances as you want t

l, you will begin to believe that you are special. And once you get that, everybody else will get it, too. Then watch out!

Don't go into debt, but do buy yourself a couple of items that will make you feel spectacular, perhaps a glittery pair of earrings (every store from Saks to Target is flooded with great costume pieces), a velvet shawl, or a strappy pair of shoes.

A week before the Christmas party or Thanksgiving dinner, start visualizing how you want the event to go for you. Feel it. See it. Smell it. Hear it. Taste it. Remember, what you think about, you bring about. Write the word "Visualize" on your to-do list. Visualizing circumstances as you want t

t shawl, or a strappy pair of shoes.

A week before the Christmas party or Thanksgiving dinner, start visualizing how you want the event to go for you. Feel it. See it. Smell it. Hear it. Taste it. Remember, what you think about, you bring about. Write the word "Visualize" on your to-do list. Visualizing circumstances as you want them will be critical to your success.

Will you meet the man of your dreams this holiday season?

It's definitely a possibility. One woman met her husband at a family Thanksgiving dinner, after he'd been invited by her brother to stop in for dessert. Another woman attended a wedding unescorted. She ended up meeting the future COO of a major Wall Street financial firm there. Three children later (along with a house in Greenwich, a house in Amagansett, and a helicopter to zip back and forth), they're still happily married.

But perhaps you won't meet a guy. Perhaps you'll meet somebody who knows a man who'd die to meet a woman like you, or maybe you'll just get practice in feeling great about yourself.

Remember, people who feel great about themselves tend to attract people who feel great about them, too.

Embrace the season!